In a modern retail store environment, there is a need to improve the customer experience and/or convenience for the customer. With increasing competition from non-traditional shopping mechanisms, such as online shopping provided by e-commerce merchants and alternative store formats, it can be important for “bricks and mortar” retailers to focus on improving the overall customer experience and/or convenience.
One source of frustration for customers is realizing, post purchase, that a particular purchased product is somehow not the correct product. For example, the customer may have purchased a wrong size or a wrong brand of the product. As another example the customer may have purchased a wrong version of a given product (for example, a soft drink that contains caffeine rather than an uncaffeinated version of the drink).
Such an error may be realized while transporting one's purchases to one's vehicle in the parking lot for the retail shopping facility, while placing the purchases in that vehicle, or upon unpacking one's purchases at home. In all of these cases the customer must return to the retail shopping facility to return the incorrect product and to obtain the correct product. Returning the incorrect product and effecting an exchange typically involves engaging associates of the retail shopping facility at a customer service area thereof and/or at a point of sale station. Such procedures, and waiting in line to receive the benefits of such services, can often consume considerably more time than the customer wishes to devote to such an endeavor and can lead to corresponding frustration and disappointment.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present teachings. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.